Milan, May 31st, 2018 - Tensive S.r.l., the biomedical company pioneering innovative implants for breast reconstruction and augmentation, has announced that it has been awarded a grant for a total budget of €2.69 million from the prestigious European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme - SME Instrument, under grant agreement No 812002.

“We are very proud of this achievement that will enable us to move forward in the validation process of our innovation, and to conduct the clinical studies”, states Federico Martello, CEO of Tensive.

Tensive was established in 2012 in Milan, Italy, by a multidisciplinary team of scientists and managers, united by the mission of helping cancer survivors in restoring a natural breast.

Thanks to the discovery of a revolutionary biomaterial and microfabrication technologies, Tensive team was able to conceive the REGENERA project. The project targets the creation of an implantable prosthesis that aims to promote the natural soft tissue regeneration and shape maintaining after implantation. The prosthesis is designed to be gradually degraded and replaced by the patients’ soft tissue with the aim to restore the normal appearance and natural feeling of the reconstructed breast. Tensive is completing the preclinical validation of the product, which has not yet been tested in humans.

So far, Tensive has raised about €3 million in equity investments and research grants (including the Phase 1 of the H2020 grant), that allowed the company to develop the product, scale-up the industrial process and conduct the preclinical validation.

“The loss of a breast can lead to a strong emotional and psychological impact on a breast cancer patient, who is already overwhelmed by the cancer diagnosis and the long debilitating therapies. Tensive’s mission is to improve the patients’ quality of life, by offering a safer option for reconstructive surgery, and a more natural aesthetic outcome”, says Valentina Morigi, CFO of Tensive.

“The European Union’s Horizon 2020 SME Instrument award represents an important validation of Tensive’s vision. We expect that this achievement will catalyze private and venture capital funds, accelerating the translation of Tensive’s innovation to the market”, says Alessandro Tocchio, Chief Strategy Officer of Tensive.

“Thanks to the European Union’s support we are one step closer to achieve our mission of bringing our revolutionary product to the patients.” says Federico Martello, CEO of Tensive.

About the H2020 SME Instrument - As part of the Horizon 2020 programme, the SME Instrument will invest almost € 3 billion in 7500 projects by 2020 in highly innovative small and medium-sized businesses. In the January 2018 call, of the 1.163 proposals submitted, 57 have been financed, of which only 2 are from Italian companies.

Tensive's project, Regenera, has been admitted to the Regione Lombardia "Linea R&S per Aggregazioni" research grant. The project includes the preclinical validation of Tensive's innovative prosthesis, with a total budget of €1.2 M and with the support of prestigious academic and industrial partners.

Tensive has been admitted to the Phase 1 of "SME Instrument" call within Horizon 2020 (the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever), with the project "REGENERA", to develop innovative prostheses for adipose tissue regeneration.

20-Sep 2015

Our CFO, Valentina Morigi, presents Tensive at the European Innovation Day in Mountain View, CA. An action oriented investors’ day bringing together the best of European technology and innovation. Full content @ eid.mindthebridge.org